Ein Kind ward hier geboren
Today, January 5, is the 91st anniversary of the birth of one of La Cieca's particular heroes, Wieland Wagner, stage director and designer. Here is a scene from Wieland's legendary production of Tristan und Isolde featuring Birgit Nilsson and Wolfgang Windgassen.
In this clip, Wieland is seen in rehearsal for his 1965 production of Der Ring des Nibelungen with Windgassen, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Theo Adam and Gustav Neidlinger.
(The first few seconds of the film clip are of Wieland's muse Anja Silja in her Bayreuth debut role of Senta.)
A page dedicated to the work of Wieland Wagner can be found at the Wagner Operas site.
In this clip, Wieland is seen in rehearsal for his 1965 production of Der Ring des Nibelungen with Windgassen, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Theo Adam and Gustav Neidlinger.
(The first few seconds of the film clip are of Wieland's muse Anja Silja in her Bayreuth debut role of Senta.)
A page dedicated to the work of Wieland Wagner can be found at the Wagner Operas site.
POSTED at
12:34 AM
16 Comments:
Because I don't speak a word of German, I'm so grateful for those Japanese subtitles--I did catch
"1965" embedded in one of them, which clarifies everything for me.
A fascinating look behind the scenes at Bayreuth - thanks for posting it.
silja = genius
weiland wagner = god
this afternoon's met broadcast = FILTH.
this is probably the worst the met orchestra has sounded in years ... clearly underrehearsed, noseda has no clue what is going on, and the singing (other than dmitri) is HORRENDOUS, with licitra and sala battling it out for the ugliest sounds of the afternoon. him i've never gotten, but she's done great work before (amor in chicago, the midsummer night's dream dvd), so what's going on? of course levine probably has no idea that this is production is going so poorly ... you know, like an artistic director is supposed to!
blythe rhythmically active but nowhere near the center of the notes ... what is going on????
"Allmächt'ge Jungfrau!", 12 March 1997, Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnM-jvp8mOk
"Liebestod", 8 November 2001, Beijing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muwWNxXA_gg
"O sink hernieder", 19 November 1998, Bern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0mDgwu7po
"Dich, teure Halle", 27 November 2003, Ghent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amAsyPR-v1Y
"Liebestod", 19 November 1998, Bern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J--mJzxcF3U
"Dich, teure Halle", 12 March 1997, Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMG0l_t_RA
by the way ... and this will be my last ballo comment in this silja/wagner thread ... charles anthony sang the SAME ROLE (servant) when marian anderson made her debut!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it is scary that ppl are paying to hear this ballo.
those snippets of the young silja reminded me of what a potent artist she was/is. For me, her marie and senta are unsurpassed. I also adore her early elsa.
Has anyone heard her '62 salome?
Doug
What do you mean by rhythmically active?
Doug,
I heard Blythe at the Walkure dress rehearsal last night and she was fantastic. She's been consistent all season, and, without hearing the broadcast, I'm pretty surprised to hear she was off this afternoon...
Blythe was caught after Act I for a brief chat on the radio, and admitted she was leaving the theatre. What a very wise girl! I
did not think she was out of tune. I do think that Ulrica is a bit too low for her. It's really a contralto number. Noseda was conducting like he had a train to catch. And, you know, Mme Crider really does have a voice, if not a very good high-C, but she's just terribly blunt with it. She's a rather generic black-spinto soprano singer with all the plusses and minuses. This was the first time I've heard her; she was not great for sure, but she was not a disaster. I longed for Martina Arroyo. Licitra brings the nasty old phrase "guinea tenor" to mind. Umm....odd. "Provincial" is really a better term for him. I wonder if this Ballo would have been better if Jimmy DeVyne had conducted? I turned it off mid-Act II; enough was enough. Sorry Dmitri. See you tonite, hon.
Love,
FLORA BERVOIX DEL RIO GRANDE
I noticed that Guleghina has replaced Gruber in tonight's Macbeth, and that Gruber's other remaining January date (1/15) is now listed as TBA. Anybody know the deal with that (not to mention Pittas taking over all of this month's Macduffs)?
I thought Crider was a lot better than some more famous sopranos I've heard over the last few years in big Verdi roles. It's the right sort of sound and she has some very good notes, even if she never quite takes one with her.
I rather like Noseda's conducting.
I didn´t agree with the comments on the "Ballo" broadcast this afternoon. I find Noseda´s conducting very interesting, with a lot of fresh interpretative ideas, and the orchestra didn´t sound bad, the cello solo was beatiful. Licitra is not the greatest tenor for this work, but he is sincere and has some nice moments, except for his lack of a real technique (especially in the awful diminuendi in the first act canzone). Crided started bad in the first act trio, but in the second act she was very good, I prefer her as a Verdi soprano than other singers like Angela Brown, who was the worst Aida I had ever heard. Blythe, Hvorostovsky and Sala were all in good voice, but I think, all this is a matter of taste...
sala was in good voice? for who? brenda vaccaro? that was memorably inaccurate, unbeautiful singing. and i liked her before today.
one thing i'll give crider: she gets better and better as she goes. ulrico said it perfectly: nice sound, but it's missing that level of warmth that grabs your attention. still, she gets the job done and i can pick her voice out of a crowd.
blythe is a great singer, no doubt, but this does NOT suit her. by rhythmically active, i actually meant alive, i.e. she's a great musician, so her wonderful rhythmic sense breathes life into the music, and shows us the WHY of verdi's compositional choices. i wasn't surprised to hear her say that verdi did all of the work for her -- he did. as for the costuming, i miss the ulrica drag ... it's the visual equivalent of what the music is telling us.
Doug
I appreciate your comments but I have to be honest I am not comfortable with "the viusal equivalent of what music is telling us". I think music is aural and I think visuals belong to the movies. Give me a good voice over a pretty face. But maybe I am assuming things about what you meant. Maybe we are both in agreement and don't quite know it. Anyway, thanks for your remarks.
jb, you may think that, but verdi didn't. i agree with you concerning "pure" music: no one can conclusively say what a chord in a mozart sonata means. however, this is operatic music. verdi wrote those chords and that orchestration and that vocal range to describe the person he and his librettist envisioned. that's what amelia's music and oscar's music and ulrica's music sound different.
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